Be Mine
by That Gryffindor Flame
Summary: Sequel to 'Prince Arthur of Wales. And Merlin.' A merthur engagement. Modern Au. A picnic in the palace gardens, lots of tickling and a beautiful ring... Yes or No Merlin?


Arthur was taking deep breaths as he paced his room, and believe me that was hard as the size of his room was the size of … Well I am not sure what to compare it to but it is _very_ large. The prince was reciting his words over and over in his head, when his sister, the Princess Morgana popped her head round the door, knocking lightly.

"Hi!" She said excitedly, "Can we come in?"

"We?"

Princess Morgana, Princess Leila, King Uther and Queen Ygraine filed into the room, and they all sat by the fire, Arthur sat on the floor in the middle of their chairs. Two minutes later, still silence, and Arthur was feeling self-conscious as they all stared down at him, so he got up and pulled a chair into the middle instead.

"So…"

"AHHHH!" Morgana screamed, cutting her father off, "OH MY GOD THE DAY IS HERE, EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!"

"Morgana!" They all yelled, effectively silencing the girl.

"Gana please," Arthur groaned, "I am nervous enough as it is!"

Morgana smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, excited for you, and happy of course, is all."

"I know Gana." Arthur smiled, and then frowned, "But what if he says no?"

"He won't." Leila said, and from somewhere she had gotton another multicoloured lollipop, "Merley loves you, everyone in the whole world knows that."

_Yes_, thought Arthur bitterly, _They do. After that 'so-called friend' Kay sold us out to the newspapers, and told them EVERYTHING he knew about mine and Merlin's relationship … what a few couple of months that was!_

"And I love him." He chose to say instead, softly.

"Exactly, so there is nothing in your way!" Leila let go of her lollipop as she flailed her arms to emphasize her point, Arthur's dog, Leo, bounded up and snatched it off the floor. "Love conquers everything."

"She is too smart to be 11."

"So, the plan is going to plan." Morgana grinned, "You both graduated yesterday,"

"Check." The family chorused.

"Uther took Merlin out to play golf and even got Merlin to say he loved Arthur more than anything."

"Check." Uther grinned, standing up and bowing.

"The picnic is packed for this lunch thing in the royal gardens." 

"Check." Arthur said shakily.

"And, finally, you have the ring?"

Arthur brought a small velvet box out of his pocket, popping it open, the Royal Family gasped at the intricacy.

It was a silver band, with two lines running down, each one was millimetres away from the edge, and between them an intricate design of swirls and lines, hand-crafted so neatly a poke on the elbow would of destroyed the whole scene. But what grasped their attention was the eye shape on the front, with the royal Pendragon crest incrusted in black.

"It's beautiful." Morgana breathed, as Arthur pulled it out of the red velvet to let her have a closer look, she gave it back, "Keep it safe. And Arthur, don't worry, Merlin will love it."

Arthur smiled, and the clock chimed and showed five to one. "Go!" Morgana encouraged. "We'll see you at dinner tonight, _with_ Merlin!"

Arthur nodded, collected the basket of food and blanket, and patted the ring box that was in his pocket, and left, hurrying down to the royal gardens. He stopped short when he saw a tall, lanky man lie down against the summer grass, "Merlin." He breathed.

He went and sat by the boy, grinning down at him, and receiving a grin back. "Hello my handsome prince, how are you?"

"I am good my beautiful Cinderfella. And you?"

"Better now." He said, giving Arthur a chaste kiss on the lips as he sat up, he grinned a wide grin. He looked at the picnic basket, "And what delights has your kitchen staff prepared for us today?"

"In my defence I helped today!"

Merlin rolled his eyes, "Course you did, I believe you."

"Alright that is it Mr. Sarcastic of the century!" Arthur leaped on Merlin, straddling his and ticking his sides mercilessly, as Merlin shrieked with laughter.

"A…ARTHUR!" He yelled, "GET… GET OFF ME!"

"NO." Arthur laughed back, ticking his neck and armpits and sides, getting his legs in a leg-lock and ticking his feet. "Way too much fun." Six and a half minutes later, and Merlin was going purple from lack of breath, Arthur rolled off him (he had been at Merlin's sides again), only for Merlin to cosy up to his side, and out of habit Arthur wrapped an arm around him, and kissed his forehead.

"Hate you…" Merlin breathed, snuggling up close to Arthur.

"You love me."

"I know."

"And I love you."

"I know." Merlin smiled, playing with the hem of Arthur's shirt, "You look very nice today, love." 

Arthur was in a red shirt with the first few buttons undone, and a pair of dark jeans. He had taken his shoes off, as they always did when having a picnic, and his hair had a little bit of gel in it, messing it up because he knew that was how Merlin liked it.

Merlin was wearing a white t-shirt, which showed his lanky frame; though Arthur noticed he had more muscle than the last time he saw him, and black skinny jeans, his hair didn't need gel to be messy and today was no exception.

"As do you." Arthur replied, kissing his brow. Merlin smiled widely. "Merlin, you do love me, don't you?" Merlin grinned up at him,

"Is someone self conscious today?"

Arthur rolled his eyes, "Don't make me tickle you!" He threatened, "But seriously, you love me, right?"

Merlin smiled up at him, then got up to rest on his elbows, head in hands, looking down at Arthur, who suddenly felt _very_ self-conscious. He watched Merlin's eyes travel down the length of his body, and up again. In one quick movement, Merlin was straddling Arthur's waist, and leaned down close to his ear, "I have never loved you more, than I love you right now." He whispered, before pecking Arthur's lips and rolling off him, snuggling back into the Prince's side.

Arthur let out the breath he had been holding, "Good… That's… good."

"You love me, don't you?" Merlin quizzically up at him, "Because if this is you trying to get me to say I don't love you so you can break up with me I will not be –"

"Merls," Arthur said, softly, cutting him off, "Of course I love you, I love you more than life itself, you should know that, I would never hurt you, or break up with you, you mean too much to me to let you go."

Merlin smiled contently, "Oh, good." He replied, happily.

"Which is why, you have to get up."

"What?" 

"Get up, sit up." Arthur said, sitting up from their position on the blanket and pulling Merlin with him as he did so. He shuffled onto his knees and then stood up.

Merlin did the same. "Arthur, what's going on?"

Arthur shuffled forward so they were centimetres apart, leaning his forehead forward to touch his boyfriend's. "Merlin Andrew Emrys," He said, "I spent the first half of the first year of university, being your best friend, the second half, we were sort of a couple, but you couldn't take it and broke it off." Merlin looked down guilty, Arthur pushed his head back up to look in his eyes again, "Which was horrible, but fair, you were dating a prince and couldn't take it, fair enough. But, miracles happened in that parade, and we were together again."

"That was a very good day." Merlin whispered, and Arthur agreed.

"Yes, it was. I then spent the next, glorious three years with you by my side, as my boyfriend. And, three years, six birthdays, three valentines days, three Christmas', and one graduation day later, we are still standing as a couple, together still."

Merlin grinned widely at that, "We have come a long way, haven't we?" 

"We have." Arthur said, stepping back, "But I want to go further, a lot further so…" He, nervously, dropped to one knee, and as Merlin gasped he brought out the little black box he had in his pocket, "So, Merlin Andrew Emrys, the craziest man I have ever met, the love of my life, will you marry me?"

"YES!" Merlin screamed, flying at him, and they both fell to the floor. Merlin kissed him, straddling his waist, "Yes, yes, yes."

Arthur beamed at him, and Merlin got of his waist so he could retrieve the ring from the grass. Arthur searched and Merlin sat hugging his knees on the blanket, tears of happiness running down his cheeks.

Arthur came and sat by him, and Merlin held out his left hand, and as Arthur was going to slip it on, "Wait." Merlin picked the ring out of Arthur's grasp, looking on the inside, "Be mine." He read, and Arthur blushed faintly.

"I didn't think you would see it." He muttered, Merlin grinned and kissed his lips again.

"I will always, always, always, be yours, Arthur Uther Pendragon, always yours." Merlin told him, handing back the ring and holding out his hand again. Arthur slipped on the ring.

"And I will always, always, always be yours, Merlin Andrew Emrys, always yours."

"Ah." Merlin said, grinning, "Merlin Andrew Emrys-Pendragon."

Arthur grinned. "Of course. Merlin Andrew Emrys-Pendragon, I can not wait to spend the rest of my life with you."

"As I can not you."

"I love you." Arthur whispered, kissing him again.

"I love you too. Forever and always." 

"Forever and always."

"Promise?"

"Promise."


End file.
